The Hazards of Live TV: #25,153

Monday, Huffington Post was kind enough to publish a parody post I authored on their comedy blog, “Microsoft, Apple Unite to Demand That the National Organization for Marriage Boycott Them.” It was kind of hit, and may have even inspired a copycat.

But the premise was absurd. And the “public relations” people I “quoted” didn’t exactly speak like PR flacks.

(snip)

I also included this disclaimer at the end:

NOTE: This piece is satirical. All quotations are fabrications for the purpose of satire.

Apparently this and the fact it was published on Huffington Post’s Comedy vertical escaped the eagle-eyed journalists at MSNBC, who reported the story as news this morning. (Do they know about The Onion, you think? Should we tell them?)

Update: Mediaite’s Tommy Christropher writes that Thomas Roberts apologized on the air for this…

In his brief apology today, Roberts noted the disclaimer, and added, “We take issues of equality seriously, not as satire. It was my error.”

ICN Reaction: POV has its limits. Three times in eight days NOM and NOM related issues has caused Roberts to go too far and make MSNBC look bad in the process. This is a real problem.

10 Responses to “The Hazards of Live TV: #25,153”

If you are a POV network, this was perfectly acceptable. After their successes with edited voice 911 tapes, MSNBC will today air a CGI generated video of Zimmerman kicking the bejesus out of Rodney King. Tomorrow catch his guest-staring role as a Messerschmidt pilot shooting down the Tuskegee Airmen.

If you are a POV network, this was perfectly acceptable. After their successes with edited voice 911 tapes, MSNBC will today air a CGI generated video of Zimmerman kicking the bejesus out of Rodney King. Tomorrow catch his guest-staring role as a Messerschmidt pilot shooting down the Tuskegee Airmen.

I nearly noted it last night but decided to hold off until more info came in because there was the possibility that this news item could have popped up elsewhere in which case Roberts would be off the hook. Doubtful possibility but you have to err on the side caution.